A former Greenville County Sheriff's Office employee who alleged Sheriff Will Lewis sexually assaulted her on a business trip earlier this year has filed a lawsuit against him and others.

The former employee, Savannah Nabors, alleges in the lawsuit that her civil rights were violated and that she was terminated from her job because she "refused to tolerate sexual advances by the Sheriff."

The Greenville News does not typically identify victims of sexual assault, but Nabors went public with her allegations in a post on a website earlier this year.

No criminal charges have been filed against Lewis. The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division on Tuesday confirmed that it continues to investigate the allegations against Lewis.

Attorney Druanne White, one of Nabors' lawyers, said Tuesday that Nabors would not speak publicly about the suit or allegations contained in it.

Jill Rothstein, general counsel for the Sheriff's Office, issued a prepared statement Tuesday.

"Due to an ongoing SLED investigation, the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office will not
comment on this matter at this time," the statement reads. "The Sheriff’s office will respond regarding the veracity of these allegations subsequent to the investigation’s conclusion."

The lawsuit includes details about a March business trip that Nabors and Lewis took to Charlotte, and accusations that Lewis slipped a "dark liquor" into her bag on that trip. The lawsuit states Lewis later came to Nabors' hotel room to get the alcohol and poured two drinks. In the lawsuit, Nabors says she does not remember the sheriff tasting a drink. Nabors says she remembers slipping in and out of consciousness as the sheriff had sex with her in a hotel room that night, according to the suit.

"She then tried to forget that it happened," the lawsuit states. "Upon further reflection, the Plaintiff realized that she had not consumed enough alcohol the night before to lose consciousness, leading her to believe that the liquor drink in her hotel room contained some kind of drug."

The lawsuit was filed Monday in Greenville County, according to electronic court records. Nabors is suing Greenville County and the Sheriff's Office. She is also suing Lewis and County Administrator Joe Kernell as individuals and in their capacities as county officials.

Nabors was hired as an administrative coordinator for the Sheriff’s Office on Dec. 5, 2016, according to Greenville County human resources.

In the lawsuit, Nabors described her former job as "going everywhere the sheriff went" — from conferences and speeches to crime scenes. The sheriff told Nabors she was there to record meetings and "contribute an outsider's perspective to law enforcement decisionmaking," according to the lawsuit.

Nabors alleges in the lawsuit that Lewis' harassment of her started early on in her job and intensified over time. Nabors claimed Lewis took her aside at the Sheriff's Office in December 2016, the day after a private induction ceremony for him at the Poinsett Club in Greenville, and told her she looked "gorgeous" and "stunning" in her dress the night before.

In January, he gave her a new county car to drive, according to the lawsuit. When she expressed concerns about having the car when some officers were driving high-mileage cars, the sheriff responded "the best gets the best," according to the lawsuit.

Nabors separated from her husband Feb. 15 for reasons unrelated to the sheriff, according to the lawsuit. The next day, the sheriff asked her to ride with him to talk about the separation, according to the lawsuit.

"The sheriff asked many specific, personal questions regarding the reasons for the separation," the lawsuit states. "During the conversation, the sheriff went into great detail about what a 'great body' the plaintiff had and suggested that the plaintiff’s husband was 'stupid' for not fully appreciating same. The sheriff indicated that if he was 22 again, he would be 'all over that' because the Plaintiff was the 'full package' — she wasn’t just cute, she was smart and could carry on an intellectual conversation. The sheriff also suggested he could put her in touch with some great divorce attorneys."

The March 7 trip to Charlotte was to be a chance for the sheriff to have budget discussions, according to the lawsuit.

"Kernel (sic) approved the trip, and actually agreed to attend the trip, despite the knowledge that the sheriff, who had a background of sexually inappropriate behavior with female employees, would be supplying alcohol to the plaintiff and would have the opportunity to be alone with the plaintiff after the heavy drinking event," the lawsuit states. "The actions of Kernel (sic), the final policymaker for Greenville County regarding approval of out of town budget meetings, finally supplied the sheriff the opportunity to drink alone with the plaintiff."

The News has requested travel records of the sheriff and Nabors under the Freedom of Information Act in an effort to corroborate the circumstances outlined in the allegations. The FOIA request was denied because of the ongoing SLED investigation.

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The Greenville County Administrator's Office sent this travel receipt to The Greenville News after The News requested all traveling and lodging records for County Administrator Joe Kernell from Jan.1 to Aug. 31.(Photo: Provided by the Greenville County Administrator's Office)

The News has confirmed through a public records request that Kernell stayed from March 7-9 at the Hyatt House in Charlotte — the same hotel Nabors alleges the sexual assault happened — according to county records. When The News followed up with an interview request through Greenville County spokesman Bob Mihalic, he replied that Kernell does not do interviews and that he would forward Kernell questions.

On Oct. 4, The News sent questions to Mihalic, including asking about the purpose of the trip. Neither Mihalic nor Kernell responded to the questions.

The lawsuit alleges Lewis went to Nabors' hotel room on March 7 "welcomed himself into the hotel room and went straight for the bag," where he had earlier put some type of liquor. He poured drinks.

"The Plaintiff had a few sips of her drink, and she began to feel uncomfortable," according to the lawsuit. "The Plaintiff does not recall the sheriff drinking any of the drink that he poured for himself. "

According to the lawsuit, Nabors and Lewis were initially sitting separately in the hotel room, but he later leaned over and untied her shoes, then sat beside her on a couch and put his arm around her. Nabors got up because she was uncomfortable, but Lewis got up, too and "forcibly kissed" her, the lawsuit alleges.

According to the lawsuit, Nabors told Lewis that physical contact was a bad idea and also brought up the sheriff's wife "in a further attempt to stop the sheriff's advances."

The lawsuit says Lewis spoke about his lack of intimacy at home, took off his shirt and told Nabors she needed to relax. She began to slip in and out of consciousness, according to the lawsuit.

"The Plaintiff remembers regaining consciousness when the sheriff was on top of her, having sex with her," the lawsuit states. "It took the plaintiff a second to realize what was happening and she had no idea how long it had gone on."

According to the lawsuit, Nabors woke at 5 a.m. and found Lewis still in her bed then woke again later in his room, but has no memory of walking there.

According to the lawsuit, Nabors let Lewis in her room again on the evening of March 8 when Lewis said he wanted to apologize. He promised her there would be no further sexual advances, and convinced Nabors to "let him sleep on the other side of the bed."

The following morning, March 9, the lawsuit alleges Nabors woke to Lewis assaulting her.

"See, this is why I didn’t want you to stay the night," she said, according to the lawsuit. "The sheriff giggled and continued to sexually assault the plaintiff," according to the lawsuit. "The plaintiff did not physically or verbally reject the sheriff this time like she had the previous night, but (what happened) was certainly not consensual and she didn’t know what else to do in that moment. The plaintiff was the sheriff's subordinate, the sheriff was physically and politically more powerful than the Plaintiff. After the sheriff was done, he left. The plaintiff showered, feeling violated and disgusted."

According to the lawsuit, Nabors believes Lewis used the resources of the Greenville County Sheriff's Office to track her activities. On April 18, Nabors left her house after Lewis said he wanted to come over to borrow a pressure washer. Later that night, he showed up and parked behind her at a Chick-fil-A where she was eating dinner and followed her home, according to the lawsuit.

When Nabors and Lewis arrived at her home, the sheriff told her that he intended to have the county pay for them to go to Reno, Nevada, for a conference, according to the lawsuit.

"The sheriff explained that the county would pay for two airline tickets, but only one
room," so he and Nabors would need to share a room. When Nabors declined, Lewis "became angry and stormed away from the house," according to the lawsuit.

Nabors reported details of Lewis' actions to "more than one employee" of the Sheriff's Office on April 19, according to court documents. The Sheriff's Office policy dictates that sexual harassment complaints go to the sheriff, and he learned of Nabors' report quickly, according to the lawsuit.

Lewis called Nabors as she was headed to Florida for a funeral, the lawsuit says. When she would not commit to "rekindling the 'friendship' with" Lewis, he began to suggest that she should no longer work at the Sheriff's Office. She was eventually told to put in her two weeks' notice, according to the lawsuit.

According to the lawsuit, Nabors found out from co-workers that others in the Sheriff's Office and the county "had been aware of the red flags that inappropriate things were happening for quite a while."

Despite those red flags, according to the lawsuit, no one from the county or the Sheriff's Office "intervened to protect" Nabors any time before she left the Sheriff's Office. The lawsuit also names as defendants "John Does" who are identified as employees of Greenville County and the Sheriff's Office.

According to the lawsuit, when Lewis learned that Nabors intended to put in her two weeks' notice April 24, he "instructed her to cease employment immediately."

The Greenville County Sheriff's Office asked the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division in late August to investigate Nabors' claim she was sexually assaulted by Lewis.

The request to SLED was made after Nabors made the allegations against Lewis in a letter posted on her family's website, www.jacksonpinefarm.com.

The website includes a blog section that “allows victims of tragedies to speak up and let people know what they have been through,” the lawsuit says. Nabors also attempted to publish a book about her account of what happened to try to earn some income while also inspiring other women to come forward, the lawsuit says.

Nabors took down the blog post and abandoned the book idea “under the fear that she would be sued for defamation, despite the fact that all of the information that she provided was true and was a matter of important public interest.”